The smaller a ball is, the more it is difficult to capture one ball from plural balls having the same size. For example, in the case of disposing a solder ball obtained by covering a copper ball with solder between an electrode provided at the tip of a flexible flat capable (FPC) and a pad of a circuit board, a solder ball having a diameter of about 0.15 mm to 0.2 mm is used. It is difficult to capture such a solder ball having small diameter from a number of solder balls.
A technique of forming solder balls in a lump on pads on a circuit board by using a mask or the like can be considered. However, at the time of trial manufacture or repair or in the case in which pads exist in a position where a mask cannot be disposed, solder balls cannot be formed in a lump by using a mask and thus, one solder ball is captured from a number of solder balls, and solder balls are disposed on the pads on the circuit board one by one.
Some apparatuses for blowing up a number of solder balls and sucking air to thereby capture the blown solder balls have been proposed (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 7-307340, 2001-44624, and 9-18130 and Japanese Patent No. 3440836).